Consumers can use a wide array of devices to exchange data with each other. Some devices are mobile (e.g. mobile phones, personal digital assistants, portable media players, etc.) while others are fixed (personal computers, media servers, etc.). Some devices communicate via land lines while others communicate primarily through wireless technology, such as Wi-Fi networks. To exchange data, however, these devices must have some means of setting up and managing communication links with other devices.
Conventional Wi-Fi networks are typically based on the presence of controller devices known as wireless access points. These devices normally combine three primary functions; physical support for wireless and wired networking, bridging and routing between devices on the network, and service provisioning to add and remove devices from the network.
A typical Wi-Fi home network includes laptops, tablets and phones, devices like modern printers, music devices and televisions. The majority of Wi-Fi networks are set up in “infrastructure mode”, where the access point acts as a central hub to which Wi-Fi capable devices are connected. The devices do not communicate directly with each other (that is, in “ad-hoc mode”), but they go through the access point. Wi-Fi Direct devices are able to communicate with each other without requiring a dedicated wireless access point. The Wi-Fi Direct devices negotiate when they first connect to determine which device shall act as an access point.
As the number and type of devices attaching to Wi-Fi systems increased, the basic model of a simple router with smart computers became increasingly strained. At the same time, the increasing sophistication of the hot spots presented setup problems for the users. To address these problems, there have been numerous attempts to simplify certain aspects of the setup task.
Accordingly, developers have created a number of network protocols to help manage connections between devices. Examples include, but are not limited to, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Bonjour. A network protocol typically includes different a set of rules by which devices advertise themselves and their capabilities, discover other devices and their capabilities, establish connections with other devices, and manage these connections. For example, UPnP includes a discovery phase during which a device entering a network can advertise its presence to other devices. UPnP also includes a description phase during which devices learn about each other's capabilities (also called “services”). Other protocols include similar phases, although they may be referred to by different terminology.
While Wi-Fi Direct and service discovery have made connecting to devices and forming networks more automated, devices that do not support such protocols have been left with limited options.